Bald-headed Britney Spears gets tattoo

February 17, 2007 12:00:00 AM PST

SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. --

Britney Spears appeared in a tattoo parlor in the San Fernando Valley with her head shaved completely bald.Eyewitness News shot video of the newly shorn Spears, already with tiny tattoos on the back of her neck, sitting for a new tattoo on Friday night. The new tattoo was a pair of red and pink lips.

"She just wanted something real small on her wrist, something dainty," Max Gott, the tattoo artist at Body and Soul in Sherman Oaks, said. "She got some cute little lips on her wrist."

Derrik Snell, who works at the tattoo parlor, said Spears showed up without notice and stayed for about 90 minutes as about 60 fans, photographers and gawkers gathered outside.

"She seemed fine," Snell said. "I didn't really notice (the hairdo) at first. She had a hood on when she showed up."

Before heading to the tattoo parlor, Spears grabbed an electric clipper and shaved her own head at a San Fernando Valley salon Friday night, it was reported.

"I tried to talk her out of it," said the owner of the salon, Esther Tognozzi. "I said, 'Are you sure you're not having a bad day and tomorrow you'll feel differently about it? Why don't we wait a little bit? She said, 'No, I absolutely want it shaved off now.'

"Next thing I know, she grabbed the buzzer and she went to the back of my salon and she was shaving off her own hair," said Tognozzi.

The appearance came the same day as reports on TV and Web sites that Spears, who has drawn criticism for her recent partying and sloppy behavior, had briefly checked into rehab.

Larry Rudolph, Spears' manager, couldn't be reached for comment.

Angelique Uram, a Spears fan who stood on the tattoo parlor's sidewalk for Friday night's spectacle, was aghast at the singer's new look.

"We could see her in the mirror, and her head is completely shaved," she said. "It looks terrible."

Police arrived to control the crowd and helped Spears' bodyguards guide her into a waiting SUV, her head covered by a hooded sweatshirt.